The Star-News

Foreclosure mistakes could benefit homeowners

Sat, May 19 2012 12:00 PM Posted By: Special To The Star-news

(NAPS) — If you received any notices about foreclosure of your primary residence in 2009 or 2010 and suffered financial harm because of errors in that foreclosure process, even if you did not lose your home, you may qualify for a free, independent review.

The deadline for requesting that review is July 31, 2012.

Conducted at the direction of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, the Indepen­dent Foreclosure Review will determine whether you suffered financial injury and should receive compensation or other remedy because of errors or other problems during the foreclosure process.

To be eligible, the mortgage must have been active in the foreclosure process between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2010. The property securing the loan must have been your primary residence, and the mortgage must have been serviced by a mortgage servicer covered by the OCC and Federal Reserve enforcement actions issued in April 2011.

For a list of those companies, visit www.independentforeclosurereview.com. To know if your mortgage was active in the foreclosure process during the eligible period, check to see if you received foreclosure-related notices during that period.

You can submit a request at the same site or complete and return a request form by mail. More than 4.3 million forms and letters explaining the process were sent to eligible homeowners.

If you have questions about completing the form or need to request one, you can call (888) 952-9105 between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. (Eastern), Monday through Friday, and between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Saturday.

“I want people to know this process is free to eligible borrowers who ask for a file review, and that they give up absolutely none of their rights in asking for the independent review of their case,” said Comptroller of the Currency Thomas J. Curry. “All eligible borrowers who submit requests can be assured that their file will be reviewed professionally and evaluated fairly to determine whether errors resulted in financial injury.”

Not all reviews will find errors, and not all errors result in financial injury. Where the review finds financial injury, the remediation offered is intended to address direct financial harm and can range from a few hundred dollars to more than $100,000. More than 136,000 people have requested a review.

Assistance is available in over 200 languages including Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Hmong and Russian.There is only one Independent Foreclosure Review and it is free. Beware of anyone who asks you to pay for any foreclosure review service or offers to complete the request form on your behalf.